Volkswagen’s e-Golf, the fully electric version of one of Ireland’s most popular cars, takes the electric car challenge to the Nissan Leaf.

Volkswagen has put an electric power unit that develops 136bhp to give a car that’s attractive to look at in terms of running costs. Out on the road, most other drivers will not identify the difference. It’s when you take to town and city driving that more people take note of the relative silence.

I took the e-Golf to on some long drives over three days. I was impressed with the rated range of over 240km. My first stop was Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, which gave me a one-and-a-quarter hour drive based on a 110km run.

Charging the e-Golf can vary in terms of time, a full charge from a home charger can take eight hours, while roadside fast top-ups are great for the return journey boost, just there are not enough public chargers around.

I was shade nervous about the return journey as the ESB app for electric car charging did not show a public charging point in the town. I took off regardless across the country routes rather than on motorways. After an effortless drive and a range of over 150km still in the battery, I located a second available charging point at the top of the town. My return journey was guaranteed.

The car handled the rural roads with the same ease as its combustion engine counterparts with no obvious lack of road holding or under-steer on a wet driving night

Two hours after my meeting it was time for home and the recharged e-Golf was ready to face the journey. This time I took the motorway route where I succumbed to the temptation of higher speed, with the resultant more use of battery power.

The dash of the e-Golf is not all that different from a standard Golf with more information on battery condition and range to help you to plan your journeys.

Each way, the journey was enjoyable and I was never fearful of reaching my destination. The car handled the rural roads with the same ease as its combustion engine counterparts with no obvious lack of road holding or under-steer on a wet driving night. The battery power gave a lively performance and electric car acceleration is a dream to experience.

Electric car ownership is all about steady driving and careful journey planning. After a few days behind the wheel of an e-Golf, you quickly develop these skills.

The e-Golf has all of the driving attributes of the petrol or diesel models, apart from the towing ability. Acceleration is impressive. The quietness of the drive is stunning – the e-Golf’s wheel rims are designed for minimum drag so even noise levels from them are low.

The electric drive power unit delivers an impressive 136bhp (100kw) of power for fast acceleration. The system has high torque but not great pulling power and will be battery soaking at towing.

The e-Golf loses about 40 litres of boot space over the standard Golf, while it is marginally longer and sits on a similar wheelbase. There is no difference in turning radius which means moving from a combustion engine Golf to the e-Golf doesn’t have to feel that much different.

The Nissan Leaf has been around since the re-emergence of electric cars and this new e-Golf compared well with it in terms of driving ability. The Leaf has more technology features and I found it to have a better range. Nissan’s e-pedal was a great feature in saving battery power effortlessly.

The Volkswagen Golf brand has always commanded a certain premium and with an entry price of €36,125 (€45,995 before grants) or £28,230 (£32,730 before grants) in Northern Ireland, it is significantly more expensive than the Leaf. More recently, Volkswagen launched an e-Golf Executive Edition priced from €39,495 (after grants) to give a more luxurious option.

Electric car buyers can still avail of grants totalling €10,000. There is an additional SEAI grant of €600 toward home charging point installation and up to €500 a year annual reduction in tolling costs on selected Irish toll roads.

The Volkswagen e-Golf was fitted with aerodynamic wheel rims to allow for little wind drag and give good economy.

Volkswagen claims running costs from the e-Golf are almost half those of a Golf diesel and a third of a petrol version over a 30,000km annual use. There is about a €5,000 buying price difference between a 1.6 litre Golf turbo-diesel and its electric counterpart, so that’s the margin of value that you need to see, based on your use level.

For business owners, electric cars have 0% BIK as they are exempt from Benefit in Kind Tax. Companies, sole traders and farmers can avail of further tax savings on electric cars through the Accelerated Capital Allowance (ACA) scheme.

The incentives are there, the battery power keeps improving delivering better driving range, but the charging network is clearly not sufficient to entice car drivers away from combustion engines. If we had the charging points we have the solution in the shape of the Volkswagen eGolf or Nissan Leaf for rural drivers.